


The Calm Before

by adjovi



Category: The Magicians (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-29
Updated: 2018-04-29
Packaged: 2019-04-29 21:51:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14481939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adjovi/pseuds/adjovi
Summary: Of the time in the Physical Kids cottage, right before they embark on the final quest. Quentin makes everyone breakfast.





	The Calm Before

**Author's Note:**

> I realized one of the things I loved the most in the finale was the time at the beginning when the Scoobies were all together in the Cottage again. This fic has been banging around in my brain all weekend, begging to come out. Apparently, I wanted to see Penny23's take on the situation. Thanks for any comments!

Penny slowly made his way downstairs, the dull headache pounding a heartbeat in his temple a sharp reminder of the over-indulgence from the night before. They had partied like it was the end of the world, and he guessed that maybe it was. He came to the living room and saw Quentin standing with his back facing him, staring at the wall in front of him. He must have heard Penny come down the stairs as he half turned around to face him.

“Hey.” He nodded towards the wall. “What the hell is this?”

Penny chuckled. “Oh. Yeah.” He stepped up beside Quentin, stuffing down the instinctual hatred he had for the man in his timeline. This Quentin seemed…different. Actually, practically everything seemed different here. It was a good thing. He waved his hands in front of him indicating the display. “This is Josh’s hook-up murder board.” He glanced over at Quentin, but the other man continued to study the wall intently. 

“Huh.” He snorted softly. “Looks like Josh gets a surprising amount of ass.” He glanced towards Penny, eyes almost smiling. It was a different look on him.

“Yeah. I think that was the point of this whole thing.” Penny indicated the board, tracing in the air the intersecting lines around Josh’s face with his finger. 

“Jesus.” Quentin chuckled softly and shook his head.

Penny hesitated a second, glancing over at Quentin, deciding just to plunge ahead. Fuck it. “So, me and Alice?” He traced their intersecting lines in the air.  


Quentin huffed out an almost surprised laugh. “Yeah. Um. Yeah. So, after the threesome,” he indicated the lines connecting him to Eliot and Margo almost nonchalantly, _oooook_ , “she hooked up with you. She claimed it wasn’t to piss me off, but...”

He shook his head and his eyes went wide. “Wow. Ok. Revenge fuck. That why you guys broke up?”

“Uh.” He shrugged. “We kind of limped along for a little while longer afterwards, but then she died killing the Beast.” Penny must have looked shocked because Quentin tilted his head, quietly regarding him for a long beat before continuing on. “What really pissed her off was when I brought her back to life. That finally sent things into a long, slow, death spiral.” He gave Penny a sad smile. “Then I went on the quest with Eliot and…” he trailed off then, scrunching his eyebrows and shaking his head a few times as if to clear it. “Sorry. I realize you probably don’t give two shits about _any_ of this.” He walked slowly over to the couch, dropping down with a thud.

But, the thing was, inexplicably, Penny _did_ give a shit. These people in this timeline had taken him in as if he was one of their own. Without question. Well, except for for Kady, but he fucking _got_ that. It was like he had been slotted back into a spot he hadn’t known he had vacated. Before, he had the lone wolf routine down to an art. Then, he had met Julia, and everything had changed. But, she had died. They all had. Horribly. And, he had been alone for so fucking long, his only thoughts consumed with surviving for just one more day, that he hadn’t even realized how starved he was for human contact. Not that he would ever admit this aloud to anyone, least of all Quentin. So, he covered with an easy lie, walking over towards the couch and perching on the arm. “You guys want me to go on this quest with you, I should probably know all the backstories. Hoberman told me about all the other quests.” Except for Josh’s own, but that was because Penny had given exactly zero fucks. He wasn’t entirely sure why he gave any fucks now, just that Quentin wasn’t even half as annoying to be around as recapper Josh had been, and that was a marvel in and of itself. 

Quentin shrugged, a universal “suit yourself” gesture. He cleared his throat. “So, yeah.” He took in a deep, steadying breath. “I went to Fillory with Eliot to solve this magical puzzle and get the third key.” He drew out a large square in the air with his hands. “But, thing was, it wasn’t our Fillory. It was Fillory in the past and we were in an alternate timeline. We thought it would take a couple of days. Maybe a week, tops. Turned out, there were almost infinite possibilities to solve it. So, we were stuck there for over fifty years.”

Penny whistled low. “Shit.” 

“Yeah.”

He watched Quentin pull at a loose thread on his shirt button, slowly winding it around his finger, cutting the blood supply and making the tip turn white. “So, you were there together with Eliot for over half a century?” Quentin nodded, letting go of the string and it quickly unraveled into a spiral. “Like, _together_ together?”

“Um.” Quentin picked at the string again, focusing on that, dropping his head and letting his hair cover his face. “Um. Yeah? I mean. Sort of?” He tucked his hair behind his ear and began winding the string again, plucking more of it from the button. “It’s…complicated.” He trailed off for a good minute, lost in his thoughts. When he finally continued, he spoke quickly, wrapping things up. “Well, it was all in another timeline, anyways, so it didn’t really happen. At first, we didn’t even remember it.” He shrugged again. “But then, somehow, we did.”

Penny’s mind was reeling. “Yeah, that alternate timeline stuff is a real bitch.” Didn’t he fucking know it. 

Quentin looked at him, face softening. “Right.” His voice was low and apologetic, but Penny wasn’t looking for his sympathy right now.

That old familiar companion, anger, rounded his shoulders like a favorite scarf. His words had some heat behind them. “Hey, at least you both remember, right? That’s more than I got.”

“Yee…ah.” Quentin slowly agreed, wisely deciding not to pick this battle. 

Just then, the door to the grandfather clock began to glow and was pushed open emitting first Eliot, then Margo. “Honey, we’re home!” Eliot gestured grandly, taking in the whole room. 

Quentin bounded off the couch and practically threw himself into Eliot’s open arms, and the taller man pulled him into a long hug, closing his eyes and kissing Quentin softly on the temple. Margo cleared her throat loudly, and Q turned his attentions to her, giving her an exaggerated bow. “Your majesty.”  


She playfully swatted at his head. “Jackass.”

He stood up, laughing, and pulled her into a fond embrace. “Congratulations, Margo. I really am happy for you.” She just rolled her eyes, but Penny could tell she was secretly pleased.

Penny shifted awkwardly beside them, and Eliot turned towards him, noticing him for the first time. “Hi.” He held out his hand to Penny. “I’m Eliot.” Penny took it, unsure of what else to do. Eliot cleared his throat. “I mean, you know that, of course. We knew each other there, right? In your timeline?” Penny nodded, still foolishly shaking Eliot’s hand, finally dropping it. What was the fucking etiquette here? He barely knew them in his timeline—the sad clown and the mean girl. They had both been dead pretty soon after they all met. “Right. Good to see you again. I mean, alive and well this time.”

“Yeah, alive looks real good on you.” Margo gave him a filthy grin. These people really _were_ different in this timeline. 

Eliot turned towards Q again. “I’m starved. Please tell me there is something other than tacos to eat here?”

“Bacon and eggs?”

“Fucking divine.” Quentin turned and started walking towards the kitchen, and Eliot placed his hands on Q’s shoulders, following with wide, oversized steps. “Onwards, good sir.”

Penny watched them go for a moment before turning back towards Margo. She was studying the hook-up board. Naturally. “So, uh…” She indicated her head at the wall. “Hoberman?”

He smirked at her. “Who else?”

“Who knew he was such a pimp?” Margo walked up closer, staring at the myriad of lines linked to Josh’s face. 

“I’m sure he’d be glad to fill you in on all the gory details.” Just then, they heard the crash of pots and pans and the sound of muted laughter drifted down the hallway. “So uh…” He tilted his head in the direction of the sounds. “Are they…um…” he trailed off, unsure how to finish.

Margo turned towards him and gave a wry laugh. “Boning?” She shrugged. “I doubt they’ve had the time, but I hope they can get over their own internal dramas long enough to figure that shit out. At least some of us should be getting some ass on the reg.” She gave him a sly smile. “Speaking of which…I know you have your...” She paused, waving her hands vaguely around, ” _Whatever_ …with Julia.” He felt a pang of bitterness spread through his stomach which he tried hard to tamp down. “But, I always wanted to say this to our Penny when he was still alive. Never got the chance.” She tossed her hair. “I just always thought we would bang, you know. Before you…he…well.” She said it all so casually he almost thought he hadn’t heard. 

“Ooook. Um.” He literally had no idea how he was supposed to process this. She was smiling at him flirtatiously again, and he wasn’t sure if she was just fucking with him. 

She shrugged, undeterred. “Well, food for thought. Speaking of food…we should probably see what they are up to. Q always was a shit cook.”

He felt completely unbalanced and nonplussed, but wordlessly followed her down the hallway nonetheless. She had this way about her that defied not following. He could see Quentin and Eliot in the kitchen ahead of them. Q was shifting something around in a pan with a spatula, and Eliot was standing closely behind him, talking low and making small circles with his thumb between Quentin’s shoulder blades. The toaster popped, and they both turned towards the noise. Eliot gave Quentin’s neck a brief squeeze before pulling out the hot slices and sliding them onto a plate, shaking fingers that he had obviously burned. Quentin slid some of the eggs onto the toast and Eliot lifted two more slices of bread and placed into the toaster. They were moving seamlessly in a wordless pantomime, and Penny recognized that their actions had been honed over years of practice. He almost felt guilty, a voyeur of their secret little world. Everything was so fucking different here.

Eliot turned towards them as they entered. “Bambi.” He gave her a short bow, holding out the breakfast sandwich towards her regally. 

“It’s good to be king.” She took the plate from his outstretched hand. “You know, beyond trying to resolve a crippling deficit, appeasing restless natives who actively want to kill you and constantly balancing on the brink of civil war.” 

Eliot just snorted. “There’s coffee.” 

“Bless you.” Margo took a bite of her sandwich. “Damn Q. When did you develop these mad chefy skills?”

Penny pulled out two mugs and poured them both coffee. “Years of practice.” The toaster popped again, and Quentin tilted his head towards the noise, eyes never leaving the pan. “El?”

Eliot slid the two slices onto a plate. “Ah. You mean to say years of practice with a most excellent tutor?” Quentin just rolled his eyes theatrically at him, sliding more of the eggs onto the toast. 

“Where’s everyone else?” Margo asked around a mouthful of food. Eliot handed Penny a sandwich, and he hungrily took a bite, not even realizing how starving he was until that very moment. This shit _was_ good. 

“They’ll be down once they smell the food.” Quentin was cracking more eggs into a bowl, whisking away. 

As if on cue, Josh stumbled into the kitchen, and Penny recognized the blearly-eyed look of the permanently stoned. “Have I told you guys lately that you are the fucking best?” He reached out grabbing a sandwich before Eliot could even offer, finishing off more than half in three huge bites. 

Julia appeared next, and Penny felt his heart skip a beat, trying but not trying to look at her, a bit rocked by the magic radiating off of her and just being in her general vicinity. She shyly said hello before sliding past and making her way to stand on Q’s other side. She nudged him with her shoulder. “You? Cooking? Should I be scared?” Penny was well aware he was watching her every move intently, but couldn’t drag his eyes away. 

“Hey!” Quentin’s protested playfully. “Why is it such a surprise that I can cook?” He poured more eggs into the pan, swirling them around.

“Because you can’t, you dork.” She nudged him again from the side, and he just gave her a smile, the easy friendship between them so painfully obvious. _Fuck._ Penny did look away then, draining the rest of his cup. He felt someone else come up by his side, and Kady slammed a mug down onto the counter, filling it with coffee. She was pointedly ignoring him. The kitchen felt very fucking small at this point. 

Eliot pulled the last pieces of toast out onto waiting plates, suddenly ahead of Quentin. “You got this?”

Quentin rolled his eyes. “I think I can manage without direct supervision.” Eliot gave his shoulder a small squeeze before turning towards Margo, sweeping her hair behind her ear in one smooth motion and kissing her briefly on the temple. All about touch, this guy. 

“I’m going to make us drinks,” Eliot proclaimed, making his way out of the kitchen.

“Dude, it is barely ten in the morning.” Kady shook her head in disbelief.

Eliot held his watch over his head as he walked away. “Still on Fillory time.”

“Dude, it’s 5 o’clock somewhere.” Josh added around bites, far too cheerfully.

Penny decided to follow Eliot out into the other room, the need for space almost stifling. He found Eliot talking to Alice, offering her food. She sat very still and barely made eye contact. “No, thank you. I’m not hungry.” Eliot shrugged, _whatever_ , and moved behind the small bar cart. 

Penny took a perch on the far wall. Alice seemed even more out of place and apart from the others than he felt. Instead of focusing on her and the cool anger that seemed to pool around her, he decided to watch Eliot making drinks. Eliot had a practiced ease about the way he moved, and Penny was reminded of one lazy afternoon in undergrad where he watched his roommate, that annoying little shit Robert, unpack his clothes onto hangers. Watching Robert’s rote movements, Penny was surprised to find himself lulled into a weird sense of…calm. He felt the same now. Eliot must have sensed he was being watched because he gave Penny a knowing grin. Penny quickly looked down and away. 

The others had started drifting in now, taking various spots on the couches and chairs, some standing in the back next to him. Josh, apparently still hungry, was munching loudly on a bowl of cereal. Eliot had finished and was serving them all drinks from some silver tray that he had found. Alice shook her head no at the proffered drink, so Eliot had put it on the coffee table. “In case you change your mind.” He settled into the spot next to Margo, and they all seemed to be collectively waiting for something. Eliot nudged her, nodding at her drink with his head.

Margo, catching on, held her drink aloft in a toast, everyone else following suit. “To getting this fucking bitch done.” They all clinked their glasses together, taking tentative sips. All except for Quentin, who drained his whole glass in one go.

“Q, that was meant for savoring.” Eliot’s voice was mildly admonishing, no real rancor behind it. Quentin just looked over at him as he set his glass on the floor, giving him a half shrug. Eliot chuckled, considering the contents of his own cup. Decision made, he downed the whole thing, too, then reached for Alice’s abandoned glass. “Fuck it.”

“Yep.” Quentin agreed. "Ok. Everyone ready?" He looked around the room, assessing the others before opening the questing book for the last time. He cleared his throat and began.“The Tale of the Seven Keys. Chapter Eight.” 

 

 

.


End file.
